Prayer:
v.18 “With whom then will you compare God?
To what image will you liken him?”
v. 25 “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
Dear God, you are indeed indescribable, uncontainable. You are an amazing God, a God beyond compare. Please help us to be confident and rejoice in who you are this morning. Amen!
There is something in advertising where you give a one-word summary of an event. I was never one for nightclubs at university, but I remember these posters with words like: Real, juicy, spicy. One word to describe it all.
If you were to give one word for this chapter, what would it be?
ONLY!
And “Only” is not a word our society likes, is it?
Only. It sounds restrictive, limited. You might even say arrogant, maybe dangerous, narrow, fundamentalist, sectarian, cultish.
You see, “only” is just intolerable in our society.
Maybe because we have just become very used to alternatives. If you get a diagnosis from a doctor that you don’t like, you can get a second opinion.
Javellah and I watch “The Good Doctor” sometimes, and it’s striking to me that almost always when a treatment plan is given, the next question is: what are the alternatives? ‘Only’ is a foreign idea.
I find that particularly here in Dutch society, people can stomach that I am a Christian. They can even stomach us living as Christians. But you will get into so much trouble if you even just suggest that you consider Christianity or Christian ethics the only…
Even among Christians, I find that increasingly people are shy to claim anything unique about their faith. It is just one perspective, one opinion among many others.
Some of our theologians would say things like Muslims or Hindus, etc., are just Christians who see things differently; anonymous Christians. They are Christians, they just don’t know it.
And who knows, maybe Muslims will begin to say that Christians are all Muslims, Christian Muslims. They just see things a bit differently; not a big deal.
Only. Only is intolerable nowadays.
And yet this passage, indeed the next 15 chapters of Isaiah, insist that God is Only! He is the God beyond compare.
So, two points for this big chapter:
1. God is coming. Count on His forever word.
Just a bit of context. (v.1-11)
It is the year 750 BC, and 200 years earlier, Israel had divided into two kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom.
Both of them are on a downward spiral, on a terminal decline if you like.
God had clearly warned them, for example in ch.7; “If you don’t stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”
They have not stood firm in their faith with the implication that the Northern Kingdom has now been captured by Assyria and literally swept off history. We don’t hear of them ever at all.
But the Southern Kingdom is not doing well either, and God is going to be true to His word—they will not stand at all.
In Chapters 38 & 39, Babylon, the new superpower, is coming to destroy them too. The city of Jerusalem will be destroyed, the temple is going to be brought down, and the people are going to be taken off to exile in Babylon for 70 years.
It’s a bleak moment for this nation!
But then the tone changes in Isaiah 40 because Isaiah then prophetically looks much further ahead to their time in Babylon—defeated, battered, disillusioned.
Look at v.27 to what they’ll be saying:
Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
In other words, God no longer sees us. God has forgotten us. He no longer answers our prayers — my cause is disregarded by my God. God is ignoring us.
Said differently, “Where is God?”
And maybe those are words that your lips have borne? We live in a world of so much pain and suffering. God, are you still there?
And so Isaiah says to these people, people under judgment for their sin, God speaks comfort to you:
v.1 Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
Quite astonishing words. Israel is in this situation because of their sin. And yet God does not say to them: suck it up, you deserve everything happening to you.
No.
Comfort, comfort my people. Speak tenderly to them…
It is over!
How? Your sin has been paid for.
Who paid for it? You have received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
ALL her sins!! Double. Which means something like an equivalent for, an exact match for. They don’t have any more sin to pay for. The LORD has paid for everything.
It is great news of mercy.
What follows then are three quotations that unpack this comfort that the Lord gives them:
First one, v.3:
A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
In many normal countries, when an important person visits, people roll out a red carpet.
When God comes, the earth is moving. It’s a major architectural operation underway here. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Think of those 50-lane Chinese superhighways, but without the traffic.
God is coming, the earth moves. Literally!
And John the Baptist, he picks this prophecy and says the God who is coming is Jesus. Jesus is coming, prepare the way of the Lord.
But John doesn’t need to tell us that Jesus is God because Jesus proves it:
He commands nature, as in our gospel reading, He resurrects the dead, He forgives sin, He does all sorts of things that only God can do.
Second quotation, v.6-8:
A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All people are like grass
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall
…
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
When you pick up a flower to give to your loved one, you sign that flower’s death warrant the moment you pick it. It is a dying symbol of your love.
You see, everything is transient. Even us—flowers, grass—however invincible or beautiful we may look for a few decades. Grass!
But God’s word is not like that. God’s word does not wither. It does not change with the times. The word of God endures forever. If He says He is coming, count on it!
Then the last quotation, v.9:
You who bring good news to Zion,
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,
lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
say to the towns of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
God is coming. Share that news. This is one of the key OT backgrounds for the word gospel—the good news that God is coming. Here is your God/Behold your God.
We tend to think that spirituality is about people setting out on a long journey to find God.
But the Bible doesn’t tell the story of a lost shepherd tracked down by his searching sheep.
Sheep aren’t that clever.
I grew up in the village and did a bit of shepherding. Let me tell you, sheep are very stupid.
They are helpless when they fall on their back. They stumble off cliffs, sheep eat the wrong things, sheep run off, sheep get lost. Sheep are completely feeble and desperately need a shepherd.
And Israel, stuck in Babylon, they knew how hopeless they were, how sheep-ish they were.
They needed rescue. Indeed, all people need rescue.
We wither, we are sinful people who face death anytime, we are sheep-ish.
And God himself says, “I am coming.” v.11: To tend you, to gather you, to carry you close to my heart, to lead you.
God is coming. Count on His forever word.
But 70 years is a long time. Most of us suffer consistently for a few months. Maybe a few years. Maybe a few decades.
You see, they were going to be in Babylon 70 years. That’s two generations.
And what were they to hold on to? Words? Promises?
Maybe, like most of us, they had been betrayed several times by empty promises—politicians, parents, spouses.
And so Isaiah spends the rest of the chapter reminding them of the God who had made this promise, the God who had promised He was coming.
2. God is beyond compare. Depend on Him (v. 12-31).
So, do you know what is the volume of water on our planet?
1.3 billion cubic kilometers!
v.12 God can hold all of that in the hollow of His hands.
And how vast do you think the sky is?
I think the reasonable answer is infinity.
But God can measure it with His hand.
Or how much dust do you think there is in your house?
Because God can carry all the dust on the earth in a basket.
How heavy do you think Mt. Everest is?
3000 billion tonnes. Don’t ask me how Google knows.
In God’s scales, that’s like dust.
V.13 is a big job advert:
A Consultant for God; someone who can enlighten Him, give Him advice?
v.14 God didn’t need a cabinet. Never needed a committee, board of trustees.
There is nothing in which He might benefit from other people’s expertise. He has no blind spots.
v.15-17 Holy Roman Empire, China, Western Civilisation, EU, NATO, ISIS. You think they impress God or scare Him?
They are like a drop of water! Dust on the scales.
This is the God, v.18, we can’t compare. As soon as you begin to say, “God is like…”, Isaiah says, “Ah ah ah, stop right there.” That’s denigrating God. There is nothing he is like.
v.21-24 Rutte, Wilders, Macron, Obama, Trump, Sunak, Putin. Name them, whoever they are, however powerful they are; what are they like to God? Grasshoppers. Chaff.
Two terms, maybe 3 or 5. And then, all they are, are quizzes at the back of cards. Some famous people I’ve never heard of.
Every evening, we draw our curtains. At least in the bedroom. What about God? The sky.
v.25-27 Any idea how many stars there are in the universe?
200 billion trillion!
And God knows each by name. Ensures they are all in place and none of them is lost.
And so, back to their complaint in v.27?
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
Really? That God doesn’t see you? That God has forgotten you?
This God we are describing?
Because it is not at all that God is too big to care; it is that He is too big to fail.
He is too big to fail to see. He is too big to forget.
v.28 “Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and His understanding no one can fathom.”
You see, God is utterly dependable. He never grows weary or tired. He doesn’t need a nap. He doesn’t need a break to care for His mental health.
He can’t even say, “I’ve tried my best. I’ve given this my all.” His resources never get depleted. His understanding no one can fathom.
And so He ends where He began. Great comfort.
God’s greatness is not just that He is strong and powerful; it is that He is strong for us. He is powerful for us.
v.29 “He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”
Friends, God, the God of the Bible, He is Only! Off the charts. Off the charts powerful, off the charts faithful, off the charts knowledgeable, off the charts compassionate, off the charts dependable. He is the God beyond Compare. He is ONLY!
